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Launch
|Race = Human |Gender = Female |Date of birth=June 17, Age 730 (or Age 732) Weekly Shōnen Jump Issue: 1986 #37 (12 August 1986) |Date of death=May 8, Age 774 (revived) |Height= |Weight= |Address=NBI 8250012 B. |Occupation=Robber (evil form only) |Allegiance=Turtle School Dragon Ball Gang |FamConnect= }} Launch (ランチ, Ranchi; lit. "Lunch") is a woman with a strange disorder which causes her to switch between two different personalities each time she sneezes. Her first personality is a sweet, blue haired woman, who is pure-hearted. Her other personality is an angry, trigger-happy, blonde haired woman, who commits crimes for money and is quick to respond with gunfire when angered. Neither of Launch's personalities remembers the other's actions, or anything they said. Overview Appearance Launch's outfits change often, but almost all include a red ribbon in her hair. Launch's initial appearance consisted of a light green belly baring tank top, yellow shorts with a red belt, brown fingerless gloves and red shoes with the Nike signia worn with green socks. Launch's primary appearance changes during the General Blue Saga to a pink tank top and a black pair of pants with white knee pads. In the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wore a black shirt with green pants. In the King Piccolo Saga, she wore a purple sleeveless top with gray pants, a brown belt, and a brown sash. During the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, she wears a red dress with pink boots. Personalities Good Launch This version of Launch has blue hair and big, blue eyes. The innocent persona of Launch is pure of heart as she is quite capable of riding the Flying Nimbus with Goku in the anime. Launch is happy to carry out her work for Master Roshi, never realizing that he is constantly trying to grab, poke, rub, or catch a glimpse of her breasts, butt, panties, or bra. However, many of his schemes are foiled, if not by his own mistakes. When Launch's nose gets tickled and she sneezes, it causes her to change into her violent half. Launch has a very sensitive nose, that, when irritated by even the smallest things, can result in a sneeze. Her sneezes are often provoked by things such as pollen, pepper, dust, and other common irritants. Bad Launch In her bad form, Launch has blonde hair and thin, green eyes. Goku, Master Roshi, and Krillin are all deeply afraid of her bad side after she shoots them all with a machine gun. Afterwards, all of them run behind a boulder several meters away in fear, after being victims of her first assault, when it seemed like she would sneeze, and carefully observing her during dinner, ready to run away at the first sign of a sneeze. Somehow, she always appears to have a machine gun on her. Her transformations come in handy during the 22nd and 23rd World Martial Arts Tournaments, when she would clear the crowd and allow her friends to get up in front. Additionally, in the later episodes of the series, she seems to be more in control of her blonde form, whereas her earlier transformations in the series turn her into a berserk maniac with no control and no memory of any of the gang. In fact, later on in the story, she begins to control her blonde form completely and this is confirmed when she is shown to care greatly for Goku and the others, and even cries after Krillin's death, though she is still more aggressive than her other half. Biography Dragon Ball Tournament Saga Launch's blonde counterpart was the highest wanted criminal in Brown Country. One day, after turning into her blonde self when sneezing in a bar, she robs a train, getting the police to chase her. During the chase, she accidentally sneezes, bringing her back to her weak and innocent form. Launch is saved by the young martial artists Goku and Krillin, while they are on Master Roshi's order to find him a woman. Goku and Krillin think the police officers are just impersonators, and Goku knocks them unconscious while Krillin hides. Launch is brought then to Kame House, where she is introduced to the turtle hermit Master Roshi. She agrees to stay with them so she can train with them and lay low from the authorities finding her. Roshi gives Launch some clothes, saying it is "fighting uniform" although it really is not. Then, just as they are about to begin, a bee comes and tickles Launch's nose, making her sneeze into her bad side. She does not like what she is wearing, and angerly shoots Master Roshi, Krillin, and Goku. While she is shooting them, she then sneezes again and apologizes for shooting at them, and explains that she changes personalities whenever she sneezes. Once they moved to the Training Island, Launch decides to just cook and clean the house instead, since she does not like fighting. One morning, Launch (in her bad side) finds Goku in the same bed as her, and shoots at him. Pushing him too far, Goku fights back and knocks Launch out with a kick to the face. Another time, Launch is eating dinner with the gang when Krillin begins to put pepper on his food, causing Launch to sneeze. She shoots at them, causing them to run away. Launch spends the next eight months cooking for Goku, Krillin and Roshi as they prepared for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament while at the three try to avoid Launch's angry blonde side. Launch stays at the house while the three go to the tournament. Helping against the Red Ribbon Army After the World Martial Tournament is over, Launch, Krillin and Roshi moves back to Roshi's island and Launch continues her duties of cooking and cleaning. When Goku and Bulma come to the get a submarine from Roshi. Roshi receives Bulma's Micro Band in exchange for his submarine and, once Goku, Bulma and Krillin leave in the submarine, Roshi into constantly bugs Launch into to taking a bath, so he can spy on her. Soon, Launch's bad form comes out and takes command in Kame House, which then comes to an agreement to not shoot Roshi as long as he does what she says. One time, Master Roshi gives her some food, which tastes awful. She is about to shoot at him when Turtle, who came back from vacation recently, brings Launch back to her good form by rubbing her nose with a weed. After returning to her normal form, some Red Ribbon Army troops led by Captain Dark show up, demanding the Dragon Balls Goku had left behind. Roshi easily defeats them, but one threatens to shoot Launch if he does not give up. Turtle luckily turns Launch back to her bad form by once again by rubbing her nose with a weed, resulting in her beating the soldier herself. Later on, Launch joins Yamcha, Roshi, Bulma, Turtle and Krillin to go help Goku fight the Red Ribbon Army at their main base, but by the time they got there, all the troops were single handedly defeated by Goku. Meeting Tien Shinhan After three years have passed and the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament is approaching, the good Launch is going to stay behind at Kame House but she sneezes and her bad form decides to come along. While there, Roshi meets up with his old rival Master Shen, the crane hermit. While getting annoyed with him Launch tries shooting him with her machine gun, but Master Shen is able to catch all the bullets with his hand not hurting him. Next, Launch is able to get the crowd into the front row by shooting a gun up in the air, causing people to get scared and move. She cheers for her friends and sneezes at times, appearing either in her good side or bad side in the crowd. Later on when Goku was matched against Pamput, Pamput's manager tricked Goku into leaving the arena so he would be disqualified for not showing to the match, but Launch who was getting ice cream at the time saw this and chased after the car on a motorcycle. Launch chased them into an alleyway, and then beat up his bodyguards and the manager, allowing Goku to get to the fight on time. During Goku and Krillin's fight, Launch urges her friends to get some backbone and pick a side, while she chooses to root for Krillin. However, after the match is over, she compliments both of their skills and joyously wants to go out to eat to celebrate. In the final match, Master Shen has Chiaotzu stun Goku so Tien Shinhan can easily beat him. Launch goes over and tries to smash Chiaotzu with a mallet, but the Crane Hermit interferes with his pinky and easily pushes Launch out of the way. After the tournament is over, Launch becomes attracted to Tien. King Piccolo Saga Launch is with the group when they find Krillin dead, and, even though she is in her bad form, she is just as sad as everyone else. After Goku raced off to find Krillin's killer, Master Roshi, upon seeing the symbol on a piece of paper nearby, tells the group of King Piccolo, Launch finds his name stupid. Later on, while group is still waiting for Goku to return, Launch is the one holding Krillin, she also tells Oolong that no one feels compassion for him right now. Eventually the group returns to Roshi's house. Launch, Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong remain at the house, they even fight off three convicts who tried to burgle Kame House. Attending the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament Three years after Goku defeated King Piccolo, Launch attends the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament with Master Roshi. There, they meet back up with everyone. When the gang has trouble seeing through the crowd, Bulma tickles Launch's nose with a plant, causing her to sneeze into her bad form. Launch then takes out a gun and starts shooting to make everyone move. With her friends, Launch spectates the fights in the tournament, cheering for her friends that are fighting, such as throughout matches between Tien vs. Mercenary Tao and Goku vs. Piccolo Jr., and she remains in her blonde state until the end of the tournament. ''Dragon Ball'' movies ;Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle In Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, Launch (in her evil, blond state) goes to the Devil's Castle in order to steal the Sleeping Princess, which is a giant jewel. But then, she sneezes and turns into her good side. Launch as well as Goku and his friends are captured and encased in a wall of rock. It is the night of a full moon, and the moonlight used to power the jewel also turns Goku into a Great Ape. Goku grabs Launch, but he then returned to normal thanks to Yamcha and Puar. Goku, his friends and Launch eventually escape the Devil's Castle after Goku defeated Lucifer. Goku and Krillin return to Kame House with Launch, and Master Roshi takes them both on as students. He then tries to take advantage of Launch, but she sneezes into her bad side and attacks Master Roshi instead. ;Mystical Adventure In the movie Dragon Ball: Mystical Adventure, Launch is first seen eating with Roshi and his students when they hear sirens. Launch is worried it is cops, but Krillin tells her not to worry so she relaxes. Then, some guys with guns walk in and one of them think Goku is Launch's kid, which gets Launch angry and calls him an idiot. When a really large man comes and attacks the restaurant they are in, Launch tries to shoot him down with her machine gun, but with no success. During the film, Launch demonstrates more reserve and compassion in her violent state than normally expected, especially considering that she is one of the lead characters here and is only seen in her innocent state during an early scene in the film. Later on, Launch goes with Bulma, Oolong, and Puar to find the Dragon Balls. Dragon Ball Z Vegeta Saga Launch's first appearances in Dragon Ball Z are as her blonde self during the Vegeta Saga and apparently, she has stayed with Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu since the end of Dragon Ball. Launch is shown in the Mushroom Forest, fleeing from the police on her S-Cargo after she robbed a bank to buy food for Tien Shinhan. She manages to blow up one of the chasing police cars with her Rocket Launcher and outruns the other one.Dragon Ball Z episode 11, "Terror on Arlia" Later, she joins Tien and Chiaotzu, who are training by a waterfall, and screams Tien's name, bringing him out of his concentration. When all of a sudden the waterfall bursts and is heading at Launch, Tien quickly intervenes and saves her, making her blush (while in bad form). After being saved, she sneezes into her good side and leaves. She later sneezes back into her bad form and finds Tien and Chiaotzu again.Dragon Ball Z episode 12, "Global Training" When the two go to Kami's Lookout in order to train for the battle against the Saiyans, Launch is seen at the Sacred Land of Korin, rummaging Bora's tepee in order to find something that will help her climb Korin Tower and find Tien again, but Upa and Bora find her and they tell her to leave. After Tien Shinhan is killed, she is seen in a bar drowning her sorrows and soon she feels the earthquake caused by the battle of Goku and Vegeta.Dragon Ball Z episode 30, "Goku vs. Vegeta" Launch does not appear again for the majority of the series, except in a flashback from Goku when he was losing badly against Frieza. Launch's final appearance in the manga is actually during a filler scene in the Frieza Saga, the only instance where she appears after the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Such filler scenes were inserts to the chapters found in Weekly Shōnen Jump 1991 #3 and #4. Since they are only gag-manga done at the request of the magazine, resulting in each author from those two issues contributing holiday-themed gag-manga inserts, they were never included in the Tankobon (compilation volume). In the anime, Launch also appears in a flashback when the gang was having memories of Goku after he died saving the Earth.Dragon Ball Z episode 192, "Goku's Decision" Kid Buu Saga She reappears as her innocent self in the last episodes of Dragon Ball Z to give her energy to Goku for his Super Spirit Bomb. Launch seems to have aged somewhat. Although this did not occur in the manga by Akira Toriyama, it is one of the many filler stories written by Toriyama and his staff.TV Anime Guide: Dragon Ball Z Son Goku Densetsu, 2003 After the end of the saga, Launch finds Tien Shinhan once again; she fell in love with him at first sight and had been constantly pursuing his whereabouts. He even reluctantly lives together with her, but she is not cut out for farming and Tien has no interest in romance, so she leaves after just a few days. After that, Launch apparently drops in from time to time.Interview with Akira Toriyama, Mandō Kobayashi, March 24, 2013 ''Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!! Two years after Kid Buu's defeat, in Age 776, Launch is shown in her good side and appears to once again live at Kame House with Master Roshi, Android 18, Krillin and Marron. She attends Mr. Satan's Banquet along with the Z Fighters and their family and friends.Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, 2008 ''Dragon Ball Online According to the Dragon Ball Online timeline, Launch makes the news in Age 779, somehow, as she jailbreaks successfully for the 100th time. Power Launch is very strong in her blonde form, being able to defeat characters such as Red Ribbon Army soldiers or Vodka's bodyguards by herself. The movie pamphlet for Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might states that, while in her normal blue haired personality, Launch has a power level of 18. Special abilities Fighting When Launch is in her bad side, she is good at fighting. She fought a bear person while she and Krillin were grocery shopping, saying "Don't talk with food in your mouth!" while constantly punching the bear and then saying "What kind of shop doesn't sell green onions, this is ridiculous! Come here!". She later fought and defeated members of Captain Dark's troops when they attacked Roshi at Kame House. Weaponry Launch has good skills of weaponry when she is in her bad side. She often shoots people such as Goku, Master Roshi, and Krillin. Launch's arsenal is carried via capsules; this was revealed in the Tien Shinhan Saga, opening a capsule to use a pistol and a machine pistol to clear away a crowd so that Bulma and the others could get a better seat for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. It is highly conceivable then, that Launch could have an entire arsenal of weaponry at her disposal, all within the size-reducing capsules. ;Weapons and vehicles *'Rocket Launcher' – Launch uses it to stop a train that she is about to rob. She is later seen attempting to shoot King Piccolo with it but she changes back to her nice form before she can. Later on, she accidentally activates it nearly blowing up herself, Yamcha, and Bulma. *'Grenades' *'Sub Machine Gun' – Master Roshi gives Launch some lingerie to change into, and after she changes she sneezes. She quickly pulls out a submachine gun and fills the boys full of bullets for making her wear such a thing. This gun is also used during the saloon scene at the beginning of the episode 15, appearing much sooner in the anime than it does in the manga, later in the series, in order to protect Yamcha from Tambourine, she tries to kill him with this, but the bullets have no effect. According to Launch, it "is a high-performance, automatic weapon," and "it fires 100 rounds in less than 10 seconds". This is in line with the IMI Uzi, the real world firearm that Launch's gun is based on. With NATO ammunition, Its cyclic rate is 600-700 rounds per minute (10-12 per second, though the magazine only holds 30). *'Shotgun' – This is a sawn-off pump-action shotgun that Launch tries to use against the police that are chasing her. She does not get the chance to use it, as she sneezes just before she is about to shoot. She also uses a double-barrel shotgun to threaten Bora in a Dragon Ball Z filler episode. *'Hammer' – It is a huge mallet that she used once in the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament to stop Chiaotzu from controlling Goku. Master Shen stopped it and threw Launch at a wall and the hammer was not seen after that. *'S-Cargo' – Launch is seen driving this one-wheeled bike as she is being chased by the police after robbing a bank. The name itself is a pun, with "escargot" being the French word for "snail". The bike's design actually resembles a snail. Cooking When Launch is in her good form, she seems to cook very often for Master Roshi, Goku, and Krillin. She once cooked a pufferfish for Roshi and Krillin, and made them ill. Video game appearances Launch appears in Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu, Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden, Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Totsugeki-Hen and Dragon Ball Z: Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen, and Dragon Ball RPG: Shōnen-hen. She is seen in the background of the World Martial Arts Tournament battle stage in the arcade game Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, Launch continues to appear until the end of the series, always looking for Tien. In addition to that, she also sells capsules in the Skill Shop, switching between her good and evil side randomly. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, she also appears as the Z-Item shop owner switching between her good and evil side randomly. In Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2, she is not seen, but is mentioned in the Character Illustration of Tien. She appears as an assist character in Dragon Ball Z: Bakuretsu Impact. Launch is also present in the Nintendo DS games Dragon Ball: Origins, Dragon Ball: Origins 2, Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu, and Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans. In Dragon Ball: Origins 2, it is revealed in the bonus level 5-6 that a Quetzalcoatlus pterosaur attacked Launch in her bad form and took the Pirate Cave's diamond she stole from Bulma to bring it to his nest inside the pyramid near the Sacred Land of Korin. After a tailor told him about the "fabulous treasure" inside the pyramid, Krillin defeats the pterosaur and Launch steals the diamond once again. In Attack of the Saiyans, while at Jingle Village with Tien and Chiaotzu, Launch goes to the Holly Plain, caring for a sick boy, in order to find a medicinal plant called Frozen Hyacinth. Unfortunately, she gets lost. Krillin, Tien and Chiaotzu investigate the area and find and save her. Dragon Ball: Xenoverse Though she does not appear in Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, her traditional outfit does appear as a clothing option that can be worn by a Female Future Warrior (Saiyan, Human, or Majin race) and Launch's hair style and hair ribbon appear as an accessory called Launch's Wig. Though Launch's Wig is normally the Good Launch's blue color, if a female Saiyan character performs a Super Saiyan Transformation it will change to Bad Launch's blonde color (though the hair retains the Super Saiyan's golden shine), a reference to the similarities between the Super Saiyan transformation and Launch's change in hair color & personality when she sneezes. Launch's Costume is separated into 5 parts: *'Launch Costume (Upper Body)' - Launch's lime green tank top. *'Launch Costume (Lower Body)' - Launch's Yellow Shorts and belt. *'Launch Costume (Hands)' - Launch's fingerless gloves. *'Launch Costume (Feet)' - red shoes & green socks. *'Launch's Wig (Accessory)' - Good Launch's blue hairstyle and red hair ribbon (will change to Bad Launch's blonde while any Super Saiyan transformations are in use). The wig's in-game description reads: "A wig resembling Launch's blue hair. Maybe your personality will change if you sneeze?" Launch's wig and costume pieces are part of the GT Pack 1 DLC, which makes them available for purchase at the Clothing and Accessory shops in Toki Toki City's Industrial Sector. Each of the 5 pieces of Launch's costume cost 800,000 Zeni, making her entire outfit's total cost 4,000,000 Zeni, making her costume as a whole the single most expensive set of items from the GT Pack 1 DLC. Each of Launch's four clothing options (accessories do not effect stats) add 4 points to Strike Supers and Ki Blast Supers, though they also decrease their wearers Ki and Stamina stats by 4 points. Both Launch's Wig and costume set are exclusive to female Saiyan, Human, and Majin characters. Voice actresses *'Japanese dub': Mami Koyama, Sumi Shimamoto *'FUNimation dub': Christine Marten (Mean, DB Movie 2 only), Monika Antonelli (Nice, DB Movie 2 only), Meredith McCoy (Most Media) *'Ocean dub': Teryl Rothery (Mean), Cathy Weseluck (Nice) *'Blue Water dub': Kris Rundle *'Harmony Gold dub': Edie Mirman (Movie 3) *'Latin American dub': Cristina Camargo *'Portuguese dub': Cristina Cavalinhos *'Italian dub': Marina Massironi (Mean); Cinzia Massironi (Nice) *'Brazilian dub': Márcia Regina Trivia *Launch's bounty is $2,000,000 as shown in "Look Out for Launch". This makes Bad Launch (as the Good Launch persona is likely mistaken by the authorities as either a disguise or Launch altering her appearance to avoid arrest) one of the only known members of the Dragon Ball Gang that is a wanted criminal (it is unknown if Yamcha had a bounty from his days as a desert bandit). *Launch's disorder is similar to the dissociative identity disorder (once known as Multiple Personality Disorder). It is possible that within the Dragon Ball universe, Launch's disorder is an undiagnosed, unknown, and/or unique form of this disorder. *There are noticeable similarities between the Super Saiyan Transformation and Good Launch's change into Bad Launch (going from gentle Good Launch to the violent Bad Launch) and hair color (from Good Launch's Blue hair to Bad Launch's Blonde hair). Both Bad Launch and the Super Saiyan form result in blonde hair and become more violent. The only difference being the Super Saiyan and higher forms are somewhat voluntary transformation (as the users first transformation can be achieved involuntarily) exclusive to Saiyan's and Human/Saiyan hybrids which intensifies violent emotions such as rage and/or ruthlessness, while Launch is a Human with a unknown unique form of dissociative identity disorder (commonly known as multiple personality disorder) that involuntarily causes her switches between her Good & Bad personas whenever she sneezes. Akira Toriyama himself even mentions the similarities between them when giving his reasons for Launch's absence in Dragon Ball Z. **Furthermore in Dragon Ball: Xenoverse, when Launch's Wig is worn in battle by a female Saiyan and uses any Super Saiyan transformation skill, the wig will change color from Good Launch's blue color to the Super Saiyan's golden blonde, making it resemble Bad Launch's blonde hair. When the transformation wears off its color revert back to blue. This change only applies to Female Saiyan's in Super Saiyan form as the Wig's blue color cannot be change when worn by female Human or Majin characters, due their inability to use any Super Saiyan forms. *Akira Toriyama has stated that the reason Launch stopped appearing during Dragon Ball Z was because he simply forgot about her (their is only a brief mention of her by Bulma at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z when she asks Krillin where Launch is during the reunion at Kame House, with Krillin stating she left chasing after Tien five years earlier, thus explaining her absence) and that her bad state would have caused confusion because of its similarity to the Super Saiyan transformation. *While shown in a filler when Goku needed energy for the Spirit Bomb to defeat Kid Buu, Launch was shown to have aged somewhat, but when in Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return, she was shown to be young again,. *The Traffic Agent Lady from "Goku's Traffic Safety" is often referred as being Launch, because they are both voiced by Mami Koyama and have a similar character design, which is of Launch's good form but with blonde hair. Also, the Dragon Book mentions the appearance of Launch in the special, while only the Traffic Agent Lady appears. *While Launch does not appear in Dragon Ball Z Kai, she appears in the credits. However, like in the original manga and anime, it is explained in the first episode that she went chasing after Tien so she was long gone. *While shown in her blonde state, in the promotional poster of Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, she only appears in her innocent state during all the film. *Launch does not appear at all in Dragon Ball GT, but she is shown in the flashback montage of the three Dragon Ball series at the very end when Goku is leaving the World Martial Arts Tournament 100 years later. *Launch makes a cameo appearance while in her good state in the 7th Dr. Slump film, Dr. Slump and Arale-chan: N-cha! Love Comes From Penguin Village. She is seen in a crowd with Oolong, the Pilaf Gang, King Nikochan and his servant and the two characters to Akira Toriyama's one-shot Pink. *The personality of Launch's bad form seems to be modeled after Polly Buckets from Akira Toriyama's previous series Dr. Slump, although their roles are the opposite since Launch is a criminal and Polly Buckets is a cop. *Launch's line "Doesn't he know it's an offer he can't refuse!" is a reference to the famous gangster film The Godfather. *Launch's S-Cargo was an inspiration for the real life Rynocycle vehicle, created by Chris Hoffmann after his daughter came across seeing Launch's motorcycle in the anime. Gallery See also *Launch (Collectibles) References es:Launch pt-br:Lunch Category:Characters Category:Bandits/Criminals Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Females Category:Gun Users Category:Humans Category:Z Fighters Support